Disc Reviews

Well, this is a new one for me; usually when I see a movie about a couple being abducted it generally involves a couple backpacking their way through Europe, but in this case, a good old-fashioned trip to Hollywood has become hazardous. No complaints about the change of locale, however, because it actually makes for great contrast from films with similar premises. Abducted does a good job building suspense towards a conclusion that I would have never guessed.

On what is supposed to be a romantic trip to Los Angeles, couple Dave (Trevor Morgan, The Sixth Sense) and Jessica (Tessa Ferrer, Grey’s Anatomy) find themselves taken by masked abductors from their romantic perch on Mount Hollywood. Sedated, the two wake up in a mysterious room that they have no hope of escaping from. Continuously drugged and constantly watched, the two try to put the pieces together behind who has taken them and for what purpose, all the while receiving cryptic orders from their kidnappers via their cellphones.

It appears that Kevin Sorbo has shed his heroic image for that of the direct-to-video family film. Back in 2009 we interviewed the actor for another horse film called Tommy And The Cool Mule. Interestingly enough, Storm Rider also involves a mule. He appears quite comfortable with the change. And while he's not playing the kind of heroes he did in Hercules or Andromeda, he has been working quite a bit in these smaller productions. I'm sure that the fans would love to see him once again in the larger-than-life roles that made him famous. For now you'll have to settle for heartwarming and small-budget. For now, you'll need to settle for Storm Rider.

Dani (Churchran) is used to getting what she wants. Her family is filthy rich, and she gets to ride thoroughbred horses in competitions. As the movie begins, we see she has a rather huge collection of blue ribbons for such a young teenage girl. It all comes tumbling down when her father (Howell) is busted by the Feds for security fraud. Now we know how they got so rich. Her stepmother (Sorbo) jumps ship as soon as things go bad. That's no big loss, but she takes Dani's younger half-brother with her. She's forced to sell her favorite horse Admiral to her rival. Since Dad's on his way up the river, she has to move in with her Uncle Sam (Sorbo).

The right honorable 5^th Baron Haden-Guest is a well known multi-hyphenate. He is probably best known as Nigel Tufnel who likes to turn things up to 11.  He is also renowned as Count Tyrone Rugen, the evil six-fingered man.  He has also been called Corky St. Claire, Herb Minkman, Rajeev Vindaloo, Senor Cosa and Harlan Pepper, but only when he has the appropriate costume. He is married to Jamie Lee Curtis, and she likes to be called the baroness. I should say that the hyphens I mentioned are used to divide his many tasks like screenwriter/director/composer/actor/comedian/musician/American/Brit (with official dual citizenship), and he holds a hereditary British peerage and was active in the House of Lords until the House of Lords Act of 1999. He was part of the early days of National Lampoon with Chevy Chase and John Belushi but didn't follow them to Saturday Night Live until much later, pairing up with Billy Crystal on the show. He also guest-starred on All In The Family as a friend who in a flashback episode set Mike(Rob Reiner) and Gloria on their first date. Rob Reiner and Billy Crystal would reunite with Guest in two subsequent films, This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. This led him to making a series of films that many consider the finest examples of “mockumentaries”, but Guest would say that he mocks no one but has respect and love for the various groups he has essayed and displayed.  These films are Waiting For Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, and now the HBO series Family Tree starring Chris O'Dowd.

Family Tree is different than the films because it is more a journey by one person through his own heritage than the joining of a crew of like-minded individuals as in the other films. O'Dowd (Tom Chadwick) is best known for his charming supporting appearance in the film Bridesmaids, but he is the anchor here. It is his journey initiated by the inheritance of a trunk of junk that seems to unlock the secrets of his family's history. He is recently heartbroken and unemployed, so he has nothing better to do than hunt down clues from the trunk. In the first season it leads him from various towns in England to halfway across the globe in California where he uncovers many, many surprises. Three of the surprises include relatives like a Jewish movie cowboy, a grandfather that may have fought on both sides of the Civil War, and a genuine great-grand- Indian squaw. Tom's perpetually horny best friend and his sister with a surly, cheeky, foul-mouthed monkey puppet always by her side are his support system and wind up joining him in California (because they are both so messed up). Guest regulars Ed Begley Jr., Bob Balaban, Kevin Pollack, Fred Willard and Michael McKean make required appearances in the first season.

"There's nothing like good wine and friends. Or cheap wine and relatives."

No one is going to get you closer to Mama for the holidays than Time-Life and Star Vista. It's the moment that fans have waited for over 20 years to arrive. The complete series of Mama's Family is finally out on DVD, and that means there's a lot to talk about. No one is trying to say that Mama's Family was the best sit-com to hit television. I'm not even sure I'd put it in the top ten. But it's the little show that could and survived six years on television and even longer in reruns. Few shows have beaten the odds this many times and come out on top. Mama's Family did just that, and here's how it happened.

The Furious 5 are back in the new collection of episodes from the Nickelodeon hit show, inspired by the film Kung Fu Panda.  It wasn’t too long ago that I reviewed the first batch of episodes in the collection Good Croc, Bad Croc, and I had a good time with that set.  Now with the new collection, would it fare as well as the first, or will it blow my mind with its kung fu awesomeness?  Well, why waste any more time, and get right to it. For those unfamiliar with the show or movies, that is fine, because the opening credit music does a good job catching you up to speed telling Po’s story from working at his father’s restaurant to becoming the great dragon warrior and defender of the village.  In the feature films, Po was voiced by Jack Black, but for the animated series Mick Wingert takes over the voice work duties, and he nails it.

In this DVD release we are given seven exciting episodes that the entire family can enjoy.  The first episodes Scorpions Sting and Love Stings focus on the female villain Scorpion; though small, she makes up for it with her cunning ways and ability to create dangerous potions.  Whether it’s Scorpion using her abilities to turn Monkey into a mind-controlled zombie or brainwashing Po’s father into falling in love with her, she always manages to have a trick up her pincher.  Love Stings actually has one of my favorite moments in the set, where Po and Monkey practice in the new art of Dizzy Kung Fu; it’s silly and fun and seems to be a wink to Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master.